State Licensure Records Raise Questions About Council Candidate's Professional Credentials

UPDATED: GOP LEADER KNEW OF CRAFT'S DECEPTION
Tim Craft was slated by the Marion Co. Republican Party earlier this year as the party's candidate for the District 3 Indianapolis City-County Council seat to challenge incumbent Councilor Christine Scales (R) in next month's primary election only months after he moved into the district. Craft touts himself as a licensed commercial real estate broker in his job as a Senior Associate with CBRE. An Advance Indiana search of the Indiana Real Estate Commission's online records calls into question Craft's claimed professional credentials. The only record found for Craft indicates he held a license to act as a real estate sales person, but that license expired on June 30, 2014 and is non-renewable.

Craft's credentials on CBRE's website lists him as a "licensed broker." Craft's Twitter account similarly identifies himself as a "license commercial real estate broker." Yet the Real Estate Commission's online license records indicate Craft has not been issued either a license to practice as a real estate broker or associate broker. Indiana's online licensing site  is made available to the public for the purpose of verifying a person's licensed credentials and contains this statement: "This data is considered 'original source for accreditation purposes' and is current (continuously updated in 'real time' as it is changed)."

Timothy Craft

Address Information

Indianapolis IN 46226

License Information

License No: SP30303276 Profession: Real Estate Commission License Type: Real Estate Sales Person Obtained By Method: Examination Issue Date: 12/10/2003 Expiration Date: 6/30/2014 License Status: Expired Non-Renewable Status Date: 7/1/2014

A source tells Advance Indiana that Craft conducted a remote interview from Florida recently with the Metropolitan Indianapolis Board of Realtor's ("MIBOR") candidate endorsement committee. According to the source, Craft identified himself during that interview as a licensed commercial real estate broker. The source tells Advance Indiana that follow-up checking by folks curious about his credentials turned up the fact that his real estate sales license was non-renewable due to a deficiency in his continuing education requirements. The source also furnished to Advance Indiana a solicitation recently issued by USDA to lease office space in Covington in which CBRE is acting as a broker and Craft's name is identified in the solicitation as a "field broker." (See USDA advertised listing below)

Indiana law is very clear that it is illegal to hold oneself out as holding a professional license without maintaining compliance with professional standards. Violation of Indiana's professional licensing law can result in the imposition of monetary fines as well as sanctions up to a permanent revocation of a practitioner's license. Either Indiana's online licensing website is inaccurate or someone has some explaining to do.

Synopsis:

Added: Apr 01, 2015 2:16 pm

United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) seeks to lease the following space:

City, State: Covington, IN

County: Fountain County

Delineated Area:

North: South side of County Road 200 North

East: West side of County Road 400 East

South: North side of County Road 200 South

West: East side of Wabash River

Minimum Sq. Ft. (ABOA): 2,803 ABOA

Maximum Sq. Ft. (ABOA): 2,943 ABOA

Rentable Square Feet (RSF): 3,385 RSF

Space Type: Office and related space

Parking Spaces (Total): 21

Parking Spaces (Surface): 21

Parking Spaces (Structured): 0

Parking Spaces (Reserved): 2

Full Term: Ten (10) Years (120 Months)

Firm Term: 4 Months

Option Term: None

Additional Requirements: None

Offered space must meet Government requirements for fire safety, accessibility, seismic and sustainability standards per the terms of the Lease. A fully serviced lease is required. Offered space shall not be in the 100 year flood plain.

Expressions of Interest Due: 4:00 p.m. Central, Friday, April 10, 2015

Market Survey (Estimated):Tuesday, May 5, 2015

Occupancy (Estimated): Space must be ready for occupancy within 9 months after lease award

Expressions of Interest should include the following:

1. Building name and address, or site location and approximate address (if known)

2. Location of space within building

3. Rentable square feet offered and full-service rental rate per square foot

4. List of building services provided

5. Total ANSI/BOMA usable square feet office area (ABOA) and the building common area factor

6. Amount of onsite paved parking available; parking lot must be able to accommodate pull-thru trailers and oversized vehicles.

7. Energy efficiency and renewable energy features existing within the building

8. Building ownership information

9. Contact information for Owner or Authorized Agent

 

Send Expressions of Interest to:

Tim Craft, Senior Associate │ CBRE, Inc.

101 West Washington Street, Suite 1000 East

Indianapolis, IN 46204

Office: (317) 269-1090

Email Address: tim.craft@cbre.com

Government Contact:

Real Property Leasing Officer: Morrell Jordan

Transaction Manager: Shannon Schoening

Field Broker: Tim Craft

UPDATE: Advance Indiana is now told Craft was confronted by MIBOR about his failure to maintain an active license after he initially misrepresented his credentials and he admitted knowing that his license had expired. He blamed tougher continuing education requirements recently enacted. He claimed he only recently discovered that his license had expired, although those familiar with the licensing process find his claim incredulous. That doesn't explain why he would claim to be a broker when he only held a license as an agent. There's a big difference between the two.

Others familiar with industry practices are stunned a major real estate brokerage firm  like CBRE wouldn't have in place a process for immediate detection of the licensure status of any of its brokers and agents to ensure none of them were practicing unlawfully. I'm told this is a very serious matter and Craft could face permanent revocation of his ability to practice in Indiana based upon past decision of the Real Estate Commission.

Further, Marion Co. GOP Chairman Kyle Walker knows of Craft's misrepresentation of his licensing problem during the slating process but has failed to advise others within the party and withdraw the party's support of him. Even worse, the Marion Co. GOP purged his primary opponent, Christine Scales, from its website listing of Republican elected officials because of its ongoing displeasure with her independent voting record on the council. If Walker had any decency, he should have immediately called an executive meeting of the party, disclosed Craft's dishonesty and moved to withdraw the party's support of him and request that he drop out of the council race. Instead, it appears he would rather deceive voters just like Craft has chosen to deceive them and the public. The Democrats know about Craft's problem and will most certainly use it against him, suggesting the Republican Party would rather forfeit the seat to the Democrats than see Scales re-elected to the council. It's pretty bad when Craft's deception but blind loyalty is more important than having a candidate with integrity like Scales.

As further explanation of the enhanced professional standards, Indiana changed its law to phase out the licensure category for sales agents under legislation passed by the General Assembly in 2012. All licensed sales agents were required to upgrade their license to the level of a broker no later than July 1, 2014. Apparently Craft failed to comply with that change in the law, which caused his license to automatically expire and not be subject to renewal. Licensed real estate professionals in Indiana now hold licenses as either managing brokers or brokers. Broker applicants are required to take 90 hours of pre-licensing education to get a broker's license and are required to perform 12 hours of continuing education annually thereafter in order to keep their license active.